Arthur Tolkien's first choice for his eldest son's second child was Benjamin, after his father. Tolkien's mother, [[Mabel Suffield|Mabel]], who was confident she would receive a daughter, chose ''Rosalind''. This would become ''Ronald'' when the child turned out to be a boy.<ref name="L309"/> Tolkien often used this name as his first name; most of his letters to [[Edith Tolkien|Edith]] were signed ''Ronald'', or simply ''R.''.<ref>[[J.R.R. Tolkien]], [[Humphrey Carpenter]], [[Christopher Tolkien]] (eds.), ''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', [[Letter 1]], note 7 (dated October [[1914]])</ref>

Arthur Tolkien's first choice for his eldest son's second child was Benjamin, after his father. Tolkien's mother, [[Mabel Suffield|Mabel]], who was confident she would receive a daughter, chose ''Rosalind''. This would become ''Ronald'' when the child turned out to be a boy.<ref name="L309"/> Tolkien often used this name as his first name; most of his letters to [[Edith Tolkien|Edith]] were signed ''Ronald'', or simply ''R.''.<ref>[[J.R.R. Tolkien]], [[Humphrey Carpenter]], [[Christopher Tolkien]] (eds.), ''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', [[Letter 1]], note 7 (dated October [[1914]])</ref>

====Reuel====

====Reuel====

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Despite it's [[wikipedia:Raguel (name)|obvious biblical connotations]], the name ''Reuel'' does not come from any of the people mentioned in the Bible; instead, it was the surname of a friend of John Benjamin. He gave it to his son Arthur, and both his sons, John and [[Hilary Tolkien|Hilary]] had it. Most male descendents of J.R.R. Tolkien have the third name ''Reuel''.<ref name="L309"/>

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Despite its [[wikipedia:Raguel (name)|obvious biblical connotations]], the name ''Reuel'' does not come from any of the people mentioned in the Bible; instead, it was the surname of a friend of John Benjamin.<ref name="L309"/> He gave it to his son Arthur, and both his sons, John and [[Hilary Tolkien|Hilary]] had it. Even most their male children and grandchildren have it. Though this family friend was never identified, Tolkien recalled the name being of Norman origin.<ref name="L309"/> In this light, it might be an early anglification of the surname ''Rouel'', which means "(maker of) small wheels/circular objects".<ref>Marie-Thérèse Morlet, ''Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de famille'' (1991), translated from the French: "''en général « petite roue », a désigné en anc[ien] fr[ançais] et moy[en] fr[ançais] différents objets en forme de roue, peut être un surnom de fabricant.''"</ref> The "biblical" ''Reuel'' means "Friend of God".<ref>[[wikipedia:Patrick Hanks|Patrick Hanks]], Kate Hardcastle, Flavia Hodges, ''A Dictionary of First Names", [[Oxford University Press]] (2003)</ref>

Professor Dr. John Ronald Reuel TolkienCBE (1982 - 1973) is the subject of Tolkien Gateway. His life, his works, his family: everything about the man whom fans have named affectionately the Professor can be found here.

Besides creating Arda, The Little Kingdom, and many other wonderful worlds, Tolkien's reading of Beowulf was groundbreaking, and stands as the interpretation of the epic poem to this day[source?].

Life

Youth

South Africa

Birmingham

Oxford

The War

Young Adult

Oxford English Dictionary

University of Oxford

Academics and Fantasy

University of Leeds

The Hobbit

The Lord of the Rings

Back in Oxford

The Price of Fame

The Silmarillion

Voluntary "Hiding"

Death

Character

Faith

Personality

Names

John

The name John was a custom in the Tolkien family. It was usually given to the eldest son of the eldest son. Tolkien's father, Arthur, was the first son of John Benjamin's second marriage; the first son of his first marriage, John, died with only three daughters. As of that moment, the name John went to Arthur's descendants.[2] It passed to Tolkien's first son, John, who became a priest and left no children,[3] so the name John has effectively lost its hereditary signififance.

The name, though Romish in nature, had at first no religious connotations. However, because his birthday (January 3) wasthe Octave of John the Evangelist, Tolkien chose him as his patron.[2]

Ronald

Arthur Tolkien's first choice for his eldest son's second child was Benjamin, after his father. Tolkien's mother, Mabel, who was confident she would receive a daughter, chose Rosalind. This would become Ronald when the child turned out to be a boy.[2] Tolkien often used this name as his first name; most of his letters to Edith were signed Ronald, or simply R..[4]

Reuel

Despite its obvious biblical connotations, the name Reuel does not come from any of the people mentioned in the Bible; instead, it was the surname of a friend of John Benjamin.[2] He gave it to his son Arthur, and both his sons, John and Hilary had it. Even most their male children and grandchildren have it. Though this family friend was never identified, Tolkien recalled the name being of Norman origin.[2] In this light, it might be an early anglification of the surname Rouel, which means "(maker of) small wheels/circular objects".[5] The "biblical" Reuel means "Friend of God".[6]